GPS tracking and fleet management software firm Wialon has reported big growth across its global channel ecosystem over the last 12 months, and is predicting over a 10% increase in partner numbers over the next year.
IT Europa is attending the Telematics Vilnius 2023 conference in the Lithuanian capital this week, which is organised by Wialon’s parent company Gurtam.
In the snowy city, Denis Grebennikov, head of business development at Wialon, reported the rosy numbers. In November 2021, 3m vehicles were connected to Wialon’s software, and this increased to 3.7m in September 2022. This is set to reach 3.8m by the end of this year, and the firm is targeting 4m in 2024.
That’s steady improvement, which hasn’t been helped by the war in Ukraine, which led to the company closing its sales operation in Russia last year, where it had 1m vehicles connected to Wialon.
Many of those Russian connections are still active until the agreed contracts and partner deals come to an end, but it’s still a big hole to fill, unless the war ends and a peace deal can be reached between Ukraine and Russia.
The Lithuania-headquartered firm said it now has 640,000 connected vehicles in EMEA served by 300 partners, which marked 9% growth in a year. But that is dwarfed by the Central Asia region – which includes Russia – that has 1.49m connections served by 700 partners. Business here as a whole however, still grew 5%, helped by companies based outside Russia, but still operating trucks inside it.
The company is hoping to make up any slack in Russia with increased business in other regions, including the Middle East, APAC, Africa (connections were up 17% through 400 partners), South America, and North America – the fastest growing market with 18% growth, delivering 554,000 connections through 400 partners.
Asked Grebennikov: “Is 3.7m users a lot we are asked. It is for us, but the total world market for Wialon and our many competitors is set to reach over 162m by 2027.”
He said that figure illustrated the opportunity offered to its growing partner base, that now stands at 2,500, and which is expected to reach at least 2,800 next year.
More from Telematics Vilnius 2023 to follow...
